title: [The use of event related potentials in psychiatric research].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Event related potentials (ERPs) originate predominantly from cortical structures in response to information processing. In contrast to evoked potentials of short latency (<100 ms), long latency cognitive ERPs are not directly related to the physical characteristics of the stimulus, but rather to the information and meaning that the stimulus has for the investigated person.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this review article was to present selected research questions in psychiatry that can be addressed with ERP studies. As examples we used studies performed in patients with schizophrenia and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
  
  
  METHODS
  ERPs can be recorded during well established cognitive tests in psychiatry: go-no go, n-back, continuous performance test (CPT), Wisconsin card sorting test, Stroop test, verbal learning test and many others. Several ERP components are used as endophenotypes in genetic psychiatric research.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ERPs can be also useful in clinic related questions: identification of subject at high-risk of psychosis, assessment of attention deficits or selective attention problems in anxiety disorders, evaluation of early response to psychopharmacological treatment and efficacy of psychotherapeutic interventions.
authors.affiliation: III Klinika Psychiatryczna, Instytut Psychiatrii i Neurologii, Warszawa. wichniak@ipin.edu.pl
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wichniak
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ciołkiewicz
authors.forename: Elzbieta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Waliniowska
authors.forename: Lidia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wołkow
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wierzbicka
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jakubczyk
authors.forename: Wojciech
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jernajczyk
mesh_terms: D005071:Evoked Potentials; D006801:Humans; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome